hail to the redskins. he turned fans into believes. rgiii leading washington to a big win in the first game of the season and does what no rookie quarterback has done in 51 years. but first, big clean up underway for yet another wicked storm. good evening, everyone. tonight, we have live team coverage. chuck bell's got details on a big change ahead in the weather. darcy spencer has more on how long it will take for everyone to get the lights back on, but we begin with chris gordon with more on the the extensive damage in fairfax county.

>> reporter: the clean-up is a challenge here on the south shore, the area hit hardest by the storm. the damage is is greater than they sustained after the duration this summer, the. >> flying this direction and that was like that direction had to be wind blowing that way. >> reporter: at its height saturday afternoon, high winds whipped heavy rains, damaging cars and trucks. this carport was completely destroyed. >> tree just got twisted off. came through the carport. crashed over the top. just did a lot of damage. no one got hurt. we're lucky. >> reporter: the couple who has live nd the house 32 years was inside when the storm hit. this is the worst damage on south shore road. a tree came down through the roof and into the kitchen and they need this giant crane in order to try to lift it off.

so that repairs can begin. a short distance away on scandy circumstance, the roof of this townhouse was destroyed. the tree is being removed and the building condemned. the storm caused serious damage and power outages throughout fairfax and arlington counties in alexandria and the shenandoah region. >> as for power outages, leichtly over 2,000 dominion customers are still without power. pepco's a little better. and 351 with potomac edison are out power. and crews are turning the lights back on as we speak. news 4's darr sis spencer continues our team coverage from northwest washington. darcy? >> reporter: jim, we told you at

11:00 last night, pepco set a deadline to have 90% restored by tomorrow morning. they said they met this that goal this morning. you can see multiple trucks are here, utility trucks. they have to replacetility poles and there are lines down all over the street, so a lot of work to do before everyone gets back on. >> saturday afternoon, high winds and heavy rain caused scattered damage and a lot of power for thousands of residents in the region. today, the skies are bright as residents clean up and utility crews work to get the lights back on. on fairfield road in bethesda, crews were chopping up large trees that fell. neighbors said three trees had fallen as a result of summer storms. one resident had good things to say about pepco, which has been

criticized. >> they've been here since 7:00 thisorning with multiple crews. >> reporter: in northwest d.c., a power pole fell dragging lines on to the street. crews have been here all day working to replace the pole, cut the power on and get the street open. pepco says 65,000 lost people at the height of the storm yesterday, mostly due to trees falling on lines. >> there will be a few customers that go into tomorrow morning. the ones that are only a cu customer or two for that outage and the ones that are really expensive repairs. >> reporter: so, this is one of those streets where they have expensive repairs. again, pepco is saying they hope to have everyone restored tomorrow morning. if you're still without power, give them a call, even if you have reported it before. they say it's good to make sure

you're on the radar. >> thanks so much. now, let's go to chuck bell. severe weather's over. some nice air behind it. >> severe weather threat not om gone for today, but gone for the foreseeable future as a big cell of canadian high pressure is building into the middle atlantic and as a result, we have a stretch of very nice weather coming our way. started with today, honestly. temperature, now 78 degrees. 73 in montgomery county, maryland. 73 in winchester. dew points have dropped into the 40s and low 50s. that's a measure of how dry the air is. couple of sprinkles as mentioned this morning across parts of southern pennsylvania, so as you make your plans, mild and dry for your evening and what few fair weather cumulus clouds we have out there now, they'll be gone about as soon as the sun goes down. we'll talk about how chilly the

next couple of mornings are going to be coming up. see the game and rgiii's rookie debut against the saints? what an upset it was. >> not just any given sunday. no, the it's the first time since 1961 that a rookie quarterback started the season opener for the washington redskins. robert griffin iii making its long awaited debut. in the superdome, he played like a super hero and in front of a lot of family and friends. on drive number two, how about hooking up with pierre garcon for an 88-yard touchdown. making a big splash. first td pass of his career. redskins up 10-7. next, 12 play, 57 yards capped off by this.

five-yard touchdown to robinson. redskins led 20-14 at the half. third quarter, this time, morris taking it in from a yard out. one of two tds on the day for morris. redskins go on to win big. 40i-43, t the day of the rocky, but neither one played like one, especially griffin, who's not considered one anymore. >> the one thing i don't do is try to stress about anything or try to prove anything to anyone. just dpo play. have fun. it's a game i've played for a long time and the guys in that locker room, i was still a rookie to them, but after this game, they told me i'm not anymore. >> griffin just one of many stars in the opening game on offense and defense. most of the points, most points scored by a redskin since 2005, so i think you're really going to enjoy the complete set of highlights. >> he is cool as a cucumber,

isn't he? >> forget we said anything about being human. on the road. >> on the road. coming up, to politics. mitt romney says he actually likes part of president obama's health care reform. we're going to tell you the key provisions he'd keep around

today marked one of the deadliest days in remairaq this year. more than 90eople have been killed across 19 cities, more than 360 wounds. the violence included several shootings and car bombings. iraq's government is blaming al-qaeda in iraq. prince harry has finished his first round of training during his deployment in

afghanistan. tomorrow, pribs will start training on the apache helicopter. officials say he didn't want royal treatment during this mission. he'll be in as much danger as any other member of the the military. his first tour was in 2008. up next, mitt romney reveals which part of health care reform he'd actually keep around and he'd actually keep around and chuck's talking about what could anncr: it'll start out as concrete and steel... but it'll become so much more. a new world-class resort casino in prince george's county. two thousand construction jobs to build it. four thousand permanent, good-paying jobs when it's done. hundreds of millions for maryland schools... real oversight to make sure the money goes... where it's supposed to. but none of it will happen unless we vote for... question seven this november. vote for question seven. and help build a better future for maryland.

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gop presidential nominee mitt romney got specific today about some of his policies in his first appearance on "meet the press" this year. the biggest headline came when discussing health care. he said he supports part of obama's plan. >> i'm not getting rid of all of health care reform. there are a number of things i like that i'm going to put in place. >> romney maintained he would repeal obama care and replace it with his own plan. he cite it had plan implemented as governor of massachusetts. meantime, president obama continued a two-day campaign swing through florida today. he and romney are neck and neck in the battleground state. yesterday, he campaigned with charlie crist. today, he focused on medicare and immigration and came out swings. >> our friends at the republican convention, they were more than

happy to talk about everything they think is wrong with america. but they didn't have much to say about how to make it right. they want your vote, but don't have a plan. >> both president obama and romney plan to spend a significant amount of time in florida over the next couple of months. might want to be in the district today because it's beautiful. >> focused right here at home for the next couple of days. >> actually, this is probably the nicest day of the summer. >> probably so because the summer's winding down. meteorological summer is already over. autumn has start. september one of the best all time best outdoor months of the year, and today, proof positive of that. beautiful little field of cumulus clouded bubbling out there in the late day sunshine. the sun's about ready to go down and as soon as it does, those clouds will vanish an a chilly start by tomorrow morning.

as we get into the early morngs of this coming week. 78 at reagan international airport. winds at 10 mills per hour, but the dew point temperature, which was in the low 70s yesterday morning, is now in the upper 40s to around 50 degrees so a noticeable change. our high today, only 80 after a 91-degree day yesterday and part of the reason, look at all the daylight we've lost. almost two hours of daylight lost per day compared to the summ summer sol stis. yesterday, we were 91. the 53rd day 90 or higher this year. last year by comparison, we only had 50 90-degree days. we're going to be cool tonight. national airport might drop below 60 degrees for the first time since june, so if we can get to 58, it will be the coolest morning since june 8th and we get to 56, coolest morning since may 19th and if we can get down to 52, which we

won't, may 12th since we've been anywhere near that cool here in the washington area. i think we're going to be close to the 58, 59 degree mark. outlying suburbs down into the 50s. the not tomorrow morning, there's a lot of 40 degree something starts in your future. temperature, mid-70s. couple of sprinkle as i was mentioning earlier this month around parts of southern pennsylvania. that's where those spot showers have been. they won't last past sunset at all. clear skies and cool tonight. 50s for most. then tomorrow, sunshine returns. high pressure's in charge. not just tomorrow, but it's here pretty much all week long. cool mornings and mild afternoons. overnight, clear, a little on the chilly side. far western suburbs into the low 50s, low 60s along the bay. 58, 59 here in washington. then for tomorrow, a crisp, cool

morning. 100% sunshine tomorrow. only about 85 or 90% sunshine today. but highs tomorrow in the 70s with all the sign and check out your seven-day forecast. it is going to be so, so nice around here. we're we're going to have to start looking up superlatives to describe the forecast. the only knock is we need the rain. but in lieu not getting rain, at least it's going to be gorgeous. anncr: this casino's in west virginia. but it makes millions off marylanders every year. now they're running dishonest ads. why? because voting for question seven is a vote to build a...

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carol's back. some are calling him a saint. not a new orleans saint, but swrus a saint. >> he made his debut in the big easy. it was big time easy for him. you could hear the fans chant at the end of this one. that's something new. redskins quarterbacks don't usually get a lot of cheers on the road, but he makes his debut in new orleans and it looks look everything is beginning to change for the burgundy and gold. everyone knows how to spell his nickname. today, he proved he has earned it. he came ready to play. griffin, a perfect 6 for 6 on the first drive including this third down completion to brandon banks. the possession was a result in a field goal. puts the skins on the board first, 3-0. saints would respond with a touchdown. griffin finds garcon. makes a great grab. goes 88 yards for the score. that guy's fast. the first touchdown of griffin's

career. griffin getting popped as he releases. watches the play down field and loves what he sees. skins up 10-7. second quarter, more from the rookie. rgiii hooks up with robinson in the end zone. redskins take a 17-7 lead. griffin, 19 of 26, 320 yards and two tds. with less than a minute to go before halftime, one mistake. pupt is blocked, robey recovered, returns it four yard to the touchdown. saints would trail at the half. third quarter, redskins start with the ball down field. morris punches it in. under four minutes to go in the game. drew brees and the saints on the 8, down eighth rather, trying to come back. but brees' pass with some mustard on it. gomes picks it off, returns

it -- took me all day to come up with that. the saints 3 yard line. and the boys on offense. immediately cash in. it's it's morris for the second touchdown of the day. two scores for this rookie. redskins win 40-32. most points for the skins since 2005 and rgiii a winner in his debut. >> reporter: robert griffin iii couldn't have dreamed up a better debut. it was the second best ever for a rookie quarterback in the nfl, but it wasn't just all about rgiii. a total team effort on both sides of the ball is what won this game for the redskins. those plays are the plays you've got to make to win and that's what we haven't had in the plays was good plays. >> if you think about it, opening game of the season,

facing the saints in new orleans, starting a rookie quarterback. it's not a lot of people who would have thought we would have been able to do that. >> it was as perfect a turn out adds it could have been. i want to know what you were thinking when you were sitting on the ground. >> just one of those, sometimes, you can shock yourself with a play and i was hot on that play. i tried to feel my hot route and covered it, so i came back to my pray mare and thankful i had enough to do to do that and i got plowed, but pierre made a great catch. that was a great way to start off the career. >> the the last time the redskins scored 48 points, back in 2005 against the 49ers. our complete one-on-one with robert griffin iii coming up tonight on sports final. back to you. >> looking forward to it. let the overreacting begin. it didn't even take a day for the nationals to prove they can

move on and win without their ace. stephen strausburg shut down on saturday. rubber game today versus the marlins and end comes early for another nats starting pitcher. jackson, he's celebrating his 9 29th birthday and i think i know what he wished for. a do over. top second, marlins pitcher hitting gets ahold of the pitch, bryce harper loses it in the sun. two runs score. marlins up 3-0. harper, man, i hate day games. right? he's got the glasses. they didn't work though. the the struggle ls continue for edwin in the fourth. justin takes him deep to left. peterson hustles in for first base. rbi double, miami up 5-0. jackson lasted just four and two-thirds innings. gives up nine hits, six runs. his counterpart will go in for the complete game shutout.

he grounds out to third, nats use an and the series to miami. so nats on the opposite end of the sports spectrum today and lost to the yankees, 13-3 and now, the yankees back on top of the al east. >> that's what sports is all about though. >> sun was brow tautal. >> don't make plans for february. >> that's the news for now. "nightly news" is

anncr: it'll start out as concrete and steel... but it'll become so much more. a new world-class resort casino in prince george's county. two thousand construction jobs to build it. four thousand permanent, good-paying jobs when it's done. hundreds of millions for maryland schools... real oversight to make sure the money goes... where it's supposed to. but none of it will happen unless we vote for... question seven this november. vote for question seven. and help build a better future for maryland.